But in 2004 things started
to get a bit more complicated when
flash wars
started in the enterprise. And in 2007 -
PCIe SSDs (based on
flash) began to change the way that people bought servers. With more
affordable
acceleration capacity - flash SSDs overtook RAM SSDs in throughput - despite
lagging in latency. So you could say that things became more
complicated.

So in
2007 I started
publishing this simple list of the fastest SSDs in popular form factors. I'd
say it's more like the start of your continuing search rather than the end.
But for what it's worth - here it is.

Earlier versions of this document
only listed the single fastest rackmount SSD in each u-size (1U, 2U etc) - but
there were some disadvantages in that method. So instead this now includes a
mini list of the most important companies and product lines in this
market space which covers a range of different interfaces and architectures.
You'll have to look at each vendor's own offerings to get the exact
specifications - but these are the vendors who are positioning themselves as the
companies to beat in terms of latency and throughput.

Speed has a different value in
fault tolerant
rackmount SSDs - where the raw latency and IOPS may be outweighed by user
preferences about the exact design and consequences of the differing FT
architectures.

Memory technology, generation level
(2, 3 or upcoming 4), the number of lanes and the API integration with critical
apps are some of the vital filters in assembling any list of really fast PCIe
SSDs. And that's before you get you controller architecture.

In the
RAM SSD category - the
fastest PCIe SSD is PMC'sFlashtec
NVRAM drive family . This RAM SSD in PCIe form factor has a x8 lane, PCIe
3.0 host interface - 16GB capacity - rated at over 10 million IOPS.

In
the flash based PCIe SSD category - the fastest flash based PCIe SSD (at the
time of writing - September 2015) is
Mangstor'sMX-Series . This
is the fastest according to either IOPS or latency when compared to any of
the previous industry leaders in this category listed in these pages.

Although the 3.5" form factor
was at the sharp end of SSD performance in earlier phases of
SSD history
- it is no longer a launchpad for new high speed products. Although you will
find some older legacy 3.5" SSDs which were fast at the time they were
launched - they are mostly EOL - or simply available for old designs. Instead
you'll get better results by installing one or more smaller SSDs in a 3.5"
carrier module.

Note... In
many real life applications - particularly in arrays of such SSDs - the factors
which contribute to higher performance (higher power consumption and bigger RAM
cmake such SSDs bad citizens. Therefore some of these SSDs have pre-selectable
electrical power settings (in watts) which also impact the performance.

This section will be
updated soon with details of the fastest BGA PCIe SSDs.

.

PS - if you've got this far and think that an SSD drive or system from
your own company deserves to considered for inclusion in the list above - then
contact me with
the details.

Although it's rare - it has happened that I've missed
hearing about a significant new SSD product. In which case another important
question to ask - is whether your marketing is reaching the audience it
deserves?

I'm always open to communications and reconsiderations. And
if I've got things wrong and missed something which is significant - I'll set
the record straight.

SSDs are complex devices and there's a
lot of mysterious behavior which isn't fully revealed by
benchmarks and
vendor's product datasheets and whitepapers. Underlying all the important
aspects of SSD behavior are
asymmetries
which arise from the intrinsic technologies and architecture inside the SSD.

A good way to think about
what SSDs will do in the 100 per cent SSD enterprise - is to set the limits for
how an enterprise can repurpose, leverage and monetize its data - and increase
process efficiency by analyzing and anticipating customer demands in real-time.

Bottlenecks in the pure SSD datacenter will be much more serious than
in the HDD world - because responding slowly will be equivalent to transaction
failure.